Safety attachment for elevators.



D. F. LEPLEY. SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. i9. 191?- 1,260,21 6. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

- 2 SHEETSSHEET I.

0. F. LEPLEY.

SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19. 1917.

mamms. Patented Mar. 19, 1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

; N I- \\N lg-=2 m a q O an Q) R; w a? 1 h s N" Witness I E I lnventqrAttorneys DANIEL F. LEPLEY, OF CONNELLSVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

I SAFETY ATTACHMENT FOR ELEVATORS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Dial. 19, 1918.

Application filed September 19, 1917. Serial No. 192,163.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DANIEL F. LEPLEY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Connellsville, in the county of Fayette and State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Safety Attachment forElevators, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to safety devices for elevators. and while it iscapable of being used in connection with all kinds of passenger andfreight elevators, it is primarily designed for use in connection withelevators of that type used in mines. The invention is designedprimarily as an improvement upon the construction disclosed in my PatentNo. 826586, issued to me on July 24, 1906'.

-In devices such as herein made and as shown, for example, in my patentherein mentioned, it has been difficult to remove and replace the wedgesemployed and which wedges must be renewed when the teeth thereof becomeworn off to an objectionable extent.

Prior devices have also been objectionable because they havenecessitated, as in my patented structure, the use of steel castings forholding the wedges. Such castings have always been difficult to obtainin regular quantities and under present conditions are not only almostunobtainable, but are very expensive.

One of the objects of the present invention is to so mount the wedges ofthe safety device that they can be quickly and completely removed andothers substituted without necessitating practically the dismantlementof the cage, as heretofore, and which wedges do not require the use ofextensive castings to hold them in position.

A further object is to simplify and lighten the safety device withoutreducing its efficiency, but on the contrary making it more reliable inaction and capable of more ready installation.

A still further object is to provide a safety device combined with astructure made up of standard materials which can be easily procured andassembled.

A, still further object is to provide equalizing means whereby shouldone of the shaft guides become worn to a greater extent than the other,the wedges would nevertheless bind with equal pressure upon the respective guides, thereby equalizing the grip at both sides of the cage toequally support said sides and prevent sagging.

Another object is to provide, in connection with the safety wedges,means for pre venting extensive vibration at the top of the cage whenrunning at a high speed, thus insuring proper contact of the safetywedges with the guides, when an emergency arises.

Another object is to combine with the equalizing mechanism a meanswhereby the safety mechanism will not be wrecked and the cage permittedto drop should the bridle chains that connect the hoisting cable withthe cage fail or break.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, the invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafterdescribed and claimed, it being understood that changes in the preciseembodiment of the invention herein disclosed, can be made within thescope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of theinvention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention hasbeen shown.

In said drawings Figure 1 is an elevation of the upper portion of a cageand showing the present improvements combined therewith.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the structure shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged side elevation of one of the safety clutches.

Fig. 4 is a front view of the structure shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a section on line 55 Fig. 8.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference, 1 designates aportion of a cage structure having combined therewith a tiltableplatform structure only the upper portion of which has been shown in thedrawings, said upper portion being indicated at 2. The tiltablestructure is adapted to be locked against swinging movement relative tothe cage structure 1, but as the locking means constitutes no part ofthe present invention, it has been deemed unnecessary to show ordescribe it. The cage 1 is designed to travel upon guides G extendingdownwardly within the shaft of the elevator, and the sides of the cagearevso shaped as to straddle these guides and work freely upon them,said sides having outstanding parallel flanges provided for this purposeand as shown at 3. Arranged above the sides of the cage are upper andlower plates 4: and 4: and these plates connect parallel angle beams 5which are extended vertically and are attached to the cage structure.From th plate 1 project outwardly extending-angle strips 6 which areparallel and constitute supplemental means for slidably engaging theguides G, thereby to prevent the upper portion of the cage fromvibrating to an objectionable extent while the cage 6 is moving at ahigh speed. This insures the proper application of the safety clutchesas will be hereinafter more fully described.

Secured to the angle beams 5 close to the top of the cage are links v7from which extend upwardly converging chains 8 Which are attached to asleeve 9 clamped upon the hoisting cable 0. The lower end of thehoisting cable is provided with a socket S attached in the usual mannerto a main lifting equalizer 10 having bridle chain 11 divergingdownwardly therefrom and at tached to the side portions of the cage. AV-shaped breakable link 12 is supported by the lifting equalizer 10 andis attached to the intermediate portions of parallel levers 13 ofsupplemental equalizing means, there being a rod 14 pivotally attachedto these levers 13 midway between the lower ends of the link 12 andextending downwardly through a coiled spring 15 which exerts a constantdownward pull upon the rod. 7

Brackets 16 are mounted on the cage near the sides thereof and fulcrumedon each of these brackets is a lever 17 the inner end of which isconnected to the adjacent ends of the levers 13 by a link 18. The outerends of the lever 17 are connected to the wedges forming thesafety'clutch members of the Present v tio and which will be hereinafterdescribed. It is to be understood that four of the levers 1'? are used,two being located adjacent each side of the cage to form a pair and thelevers of each pair being connected by links 18 to the levers 13 asbefore pointed out.

Secured to and extending outwardly from each of two lower plates 1 areangle strips 19 of a standard size, and which are so placed as toconverge upwardly, as shown particularly in Fig. 3. The outstandingflange of each of these angle strips is provided with a longitudinalslot 20 and se cured alongthe outer face of each flange parallel withand close to the slot 20 is a holding strip 21. Slidably mounted on theinner faces of the flanges of strips 19 are i said guides.

wedges 22, the inner faces of which are substantially parallel andprovided with teeth whilelthe opposed faces of the wedges fits snuglyagainst the inclined flanges of the strips 19. These wedges can bereadily forged from standard billets and each of theinis held toitsangle strip 19 by a bolt the corresponding movement of the wedge 22relative to the angle strip 19.

Stems 25 extend upwardly from the wedges and are provided with laterallyextending studs 26 120 which are connected the outer ends of the levers17 It is to be understood that the guides Grare positioned between thewedges 22 and under normal conditions the cage will move upwardly anddownwardly upon the guides without the wedges coming'into contact withHowever, should the hoisting cable C break, the spring 15 would promptlypull downwardly through rod 11 upon the equalizing levers 18 and causesaid levers to transmit motion through links "l8 and levers 17 to thewedges 22. These wedges are normally in their lowermost positions withthe bolts 23 close to the lower ends of the slots 20. However, when thewedges are shifted in the manner pointed out they will move upwardlyalong the inclined flanges of the angle strips 19 and, consequently movetoward each other, thus to cause the teeth 23' to bite into opposedfaces of the guides G and prevent the cage from dropping. Should one ofthe guides wear to a greater extent than any other, the equalizingconnections between the wedges will insure the-wedges firmlygripping theguides irrespective of the variation in the thicknesses of said guides.

Should-the bridle chains 11'jwhich connect the cable socket S to thecage give way, the lireakiii'g of the connection 12 would 'pre vent theentire weight of the cage frornbe ing placed on the wedge mechanism andpos sibly wrecking it. This is due to the fact that the link 12 is juststrong enough to hold spring 15 normally under full compression, but incase of a bridle chain failure, this link will break before the loadwill wreck the other mechanism.

Should the wedges become worn, thus making it desirable to replace themwith new ones, the repairs can be made without the expenditure of thetime and trouble heretofore necessary. The strips'21 are firstunf-astened from the angle strips 19. The

cotter pins 27 or other fastening means en'r' ployed for holding thestuds 26 in engagement with the lever 17 are removed and the levers 17disengaged from the studs. By then unscrewing the bolts 23 the wedgescan be lifted out from engagement with the angle strips 19 and new oneseasily substituted.

It will be apparent that a safety device such as described can be muchmore cheaply made and repaired than can those devices requiring the useof special castings or the use of parts which so interfit that itbecomes a difficult matter to take them apart. By using standard sizesof material which can be purchased in the open market and assemblingthem as described, the structure is not only cheapened in cost andsimplified in construction, but is rendered more durable and moreeflicient in operation.

What is claimed is 1. A safety device for elevator cages, ineludinopposed angle members converging upwarc ly, wedges interposed betweenand slidable upon the angle members, said wedges being insertiblelaterally in position between the members, there being a longitudinalslot in each of said members, a fastening device slidably mounted ineach slot for holding a wedge against displacement relative to theslotted member, and means for slidable engagement by the fasteningdevice to hold said device against detachment from the wedge and itsslotted member.

2. In a safety device for elevator cages,

opposed upwardly converging angle members having longitudinal slots,opposed wedges interposed between said members and slidably engagingthem, said wedges being removable laterally from between the members,fastening means slidably mounted within the slots and threaded into therespective wedges, and means detachably secured to the slotted membersfor holding the fastening means against unscrewing during the relativemovement of the wedges and slotted members while the cages are inoperation and in the event of an emergency.

3. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage mounted between theguides, of upwardly converging angle members at the sides of the cageand arranged in pairs, each guide being extended between the members ofone pair, all of the members bein lotted longitudinally, opposed wedgesat opposite sides of each guide and between the slotted members of eachpair, fastening means slidably mounted in the slots and threaded intothe respective wedges, means on the slotted members for holding thefastening means against rotation during their movement with the wedgesrelative to the slotted members, hoisting means, connection between saidhoisting mean and the wedges for holding the wedges normally apart andout of contact with the guides, and means for automatically shifting thewedges upwardly along the slotted members and into engage- V ment withthe guide when relieved from the pull of the hoisting means.

4:. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage, of upwardlyconverging angle members arranged in pairs, each guide being extendedbetween the angle members of each pair and said members being slottedlongitudinally, wedge interposed between the members of each pair andinsertible laterally between said members and the guide adjacentthereto, fastening means engaging the wedges and lidable in the slots,means for holding the fastening means against detachment during theirmovement with the wedges,'a hoisting cable, a hoist equalizer connectedthereto, connections between said equalizer and the cage, a supplementalequalizing lever, a breakable connection between said lever and thehoist equalizer, yielding means for exerting a downward pull upon thesupplemental lever, levers connected to the wedges, and connectionsbetween said lever and the supplemental equalizing lever.

5. The combination with guides, of an elevator cage slidably mountedthereon, outstanding means upon the sides of the cage for straddling andslidably engaging the guides, supplemental means connected to andsupported above the cage for engaging and straddling the guides,outstanding upwardly converging angle members at the sides of the cageand interposed between said upper and lower guide engaging means, wedgesinterposed between the angle members and the guides and insertible andremovable laterally relative thereto, a spring, a spring restraininglever on the cage, hoisting means for holding the lever against theaction of its spring, and operative connections between the lever andthe respective wedges, said lever and connections constituting anequalizer shiftable under the action of the spring when released fromthe hoisting means to shift the wedges relative to the angle members andbind upon the guides.

6. The combination with guides, and an elevator cage, of guide grippingmembers including wedges, a hoisting cable, a hoist equalizer connectedthereto, connections between said equalizer and the cage, a supplementalequaling lever, a breakable connection between said lever and the hoistequalizer, yielding means for exerting a downward pull upon thesupplemental lever, levers connected to the wedges, and connectionsbetween aid levers and the supplemental equalizing lever.

7. The combination with a guide and an elevator cage slidably mounted onthe guide, of upwardly cmwerging angle members secured to the cage andextending to opposed sides of the guide, opposed wedges insertiblolaterally between the guide and the respecthe members, a sh dableconnection between In testimony that I claim the foregoing is the Wedgesand sald members, each of send my own l have hereto a-tfi-xed my'slgnature connections incl-udl-ng a bolt threaded 1=nto 1n the presenceof two wltnesses.

the Wedge and slidable Within the adjacent DANIEL F. LEPLEY. member,and'mezm fixed to the member and Witnesses:

close to the belt for holding said belt against IVY E. SIMPSON,

Totation relative to the Wedge. P. A. ROCKELLI.

00p!" 6! this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

